top stories tonight a russian passenger jet reportedly carrying two hundred people think targeted by missiles from syria no known casualties yet we will of course have date you very shortly tonight also making headlines in damascus itself syria is prime ministers i was in a part assassination attack as a car bomb exploded near a school in kent garden it killed ten people. speculation emerges that one of the boston bombing suspects could have been trained in georgia as the country's prime minister admits there may have been militant camps on this soil. on the story to the russian couple desperate for the turn of a baby son after he seized by us social services they talked to us about their family battle.

how they were going even for me kevin when you're at r.t. h.q. tonight if you just joined us from a viewer watching around the world just after ten pm know here in moscow and the top story just to mention the details been coming in the last couple of hours now russia's state aviation agencies confirming tonight reports that rockets were fired at a russian passenger jet from syrian territory the agency now telling us the north wind and lines airbus a three twenty was on route from the egyptian resort city of sharm el sheikh back to russia the plane has since returned safely to russia no injuries have been reported so far now earlier it was suggested the pilots had maneuvered the plane somehow with two hundred people on board so that two missiles fired from the ground exploded midair frightening scenario will. a live report coming up on

this developing story in the next hour here on r t mean time now would spend responsibility for the incident but previously the syrian rebels had repeatedly threatened russians over what they claim is most support for president assad the opposition's also widely believed to possess anti-aircraft weapons this recent video here for example proportions show members of the free syrian army mally a gun and decided to target what they believe is a commercial airliner then fired shots in the direction of the plates not known if the plane was actually hit it's simple and something certainly we've not heard about today in damascus itself serious problem ministers survived a bomb blast targeting his convoy it's thought ten other people and thirteen others were wounded in the explosion it happened in a busy district to talk about that is local correspondent. with the latest from the capital the blast took place today in nine o'clock targeted the prime minister convoy in eastern as western a c.

it was a bomb that was dashed to b.m.w. a black that was parked these it was indeed we had to come for usually goes from his house to his office usually the convoy goes from different foods every day but this time the driver to this way and intentionally. lead to death killing off when you know his body could that place took place near can do garden and the school and thanks god this happened when will this children went inside so one only two of them were injured in this list as it's it's and it's sticky and it's way it's very close to what's usually shepparton most of which is a body that. usually does and then i ask this and how how they usually do that bombing. well this is does raise questions about rebel tactics the editor of politics first magazine told us how likely it is that western aid is ending up in the hands of terrorists. fact that civilians have been killed as well demonstrates

just as the heinous nature of the free syrian army that they're quite prepared. to kill not only the syrian prime minister but also syrian civilians and this is something which is just completely ignored in the west and is no different so the terrorist bombings that occurred in london in july two thousand and five well let's just have a look at the this is the so-called free syrian army they've made that very scrooges that makeup of the free syrian army have made it very clear that their ideology is islam islam they wish to replace the settler progressive states that is syria which should we look for and many of these groups are linked to al qaida for example the al nusra front so the fact that western governments led by and principally by the united states has been has been send in hundreds of millions of dollars so the so-called free syrian army. really you have to sort of think about

it yourself is the money going to end up in the hands of terrorists yes it is without any doubt whatsoever. western intentions in syria come up in today's cross talk to the people of arizona again next hour what's behind president obama's red line in the syrian conflict and also questions about nato countries breaking the civil war deadlock as well so the come is a taste of. the thing. is it. was a little program titles anyway now they're pretty more questions than answers as the boston bombing investigation continues with one suspect dead of the other in custody and online a media frenzy is in overdrive and speculation is rife among the theories is that the elder brother tom i learned since i have was killed by police after being captured is allegation that said shared by the suspects mother we've heard that

before who cited in consistencies and police reports and footage from the manhunt another suspicion to this triggered online disputes is that the whole thing was staged allegedly backed up by pictures from the blast site new revelations are also emerging as well not though from the u.s. or from russia with outside of it medina cancian of a now has the details. speculation continues regarding where exactly the elder brother to meddle on saturday night became so interested in radical islam in russia's north caucasus during his six month visit or in the united states where he lived for over a decade the theory of possible a third country being involved is now circulating in the media and that third country is georgia which time or allegedly managed to visit during his trip to russia back in two thousand and twelve now this theory is fueled by the latest revelations coming from georgian prime minister. he believes that the previous

government led by president mikhail saakashvili before he dissolved some of his powers wasn't involved in recruiting and training a group of chechens and that these camps were later set up to send trained militants to russia's volatile north caucasus to further destabilize the situation there now prime minister. that there are suspicions that the authority us work closely with terrorists as a. book of sorts and so it is possible that terrorists had been trained in georgia but the investigation is under we let's wait for its results we will get a lot of new information maybe even some shocking findings there are suspicions that his work with terrorists and militants if this information is confirmed this will be shocking some say that the investigation will hurt the country's image but the country's the image will only be if somebody else conducts investigation so far it remains unclear whether this ricin news has sufficient grounds on the one hand

it could just be the latest twist in the ongoing political rivalry between two political factions in the country president mikheil saakashvili and the new government led by prime minister when you should really on the other hand it is really well known that georgia wasn't really on. friendly terms with russia after her sacrifice really came to power so there could be some real grounds for this speculation so now investigators must establish whether there is a new frontier opened up in the terror trail and whether this takes the boston bombing choir in a new direction where u.s. versus creators are also convinced such an attack could not have been carried out without special training the list of suspects keeps growing as the investigation continues to get more details on the online i don't go.

the curry could be looking to restore its permanent military presence in the gulf for good to get some fluids east of sewers that was given up several decades ago that's the conclusion from the report. with close ties to the armed forces it's got the speed of this one out is probably response in london for us. what britain want to know. well there are there have been signs for quite some time that the u.k. is very interested in the gulf states there have been doing a lot of business together david cameron did a tour of the middle east last november pushing to sell british made fighter jets the defense secretary and he was there last year talking about stepping up military

cooperation with the united arab emirates even the royals are in on it prince charles did a tour in the middle east just last month so the toys are there and there's really been an intensification of cooperation recently with this government especially now really see is a world renowned defense think tank that credited with really influencing government defense policy so these recommendations and what they're talking about in this paper today should be taken lightly the paper today talks about the fact that it might be britain might be considering stepping up its military presence in the gulf states especially next year after they pull out from afghanistan now that would be quite a departure from forty years ago when they actually shot down a string of defense. bases in the gulf states and they say that might be wise considering that the on rest taking place in the arab states at the moment they

might want to preempt trouble if they're based in the gulf states at the moment on the other hand there is of course the problem with some of the human rights records of some of the countries that they might be dealing with that might not be too good for britain's image and of course talking about returning it to middle east in terms of military presence might force some observers to talk about to retire and to. return to imperial powers and imperial operations to talk about britain's presence in the gulf states. i'm joined in the studio by chris bambery he's a political analyst chris the recent paper says that increased military presence like all of would be justified considering the instability that we're seeing at the moment in the region what do you think an increase british military presence in the gulf can only instability rather than be stabilized what is the instability gulf states the moment it's turned over to. the movement we've seen. is

a pretty good interview against democracy movements demanding human rights and so on to other nation nor i think the real when she went to talk about stability is around and what we are seeing at the moment i think is so from sanctions against iran. you know it's also an american led an old build up which britain is engaged in in the persian gulf which is deliberately aimed as part of the bill put pressure on the regime and it is very clear as world the gulf states and in particular so do you really be able which the power behind the gulf states are very nervous and always have been nervous about reigning in the region so i think you have to see this is potentially a move against iran. backing up the americans we've got a beautiful what about the question of money britain is very strapped for cash the arabs. states are swimming in it if you've got a cash cow why not little cat well. i have been milking at the big begging bowl

i rode a ribbon potential asking for money in return for it's actually the very core ties between the united arab emirates and britain with some forty million pounds a bill that once was attributed to qatar is that a good supply of that your gas i think you'd be killed and developing not to ease a dependence on russia because of tension between britain and russia as well but i think we have got to put in a context of this is a return to us of an imperial policy which has been spearheaded by the united states with britain trillian behind and therefore decision to increase any military presence in the gulf as it was instability it's interesting they have not chosen to report they've not chosen to be back room traditionally that's where the british base was in the gulf and it's where the ships which are the station it's the war it's going to be a clue they're worried about instability in a back room where the regime can last that much longer chris bambery thank you very much for your comments in december the u.k.

chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this record is proving that theory correct especially if according to resee there could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government and you know for the closely part of all things are much. couple are battling the us courts for the return of a five month old son the baby was seized last week by child protective services after his parents did not have heart surgery while waiting for a doctor's second opinion alex not a nickel i have told r.t. shaun thomas about their current plight. we been shocked when they walked in our door and just they all of them it says just let us see your son if he is so kay and i said i'm holding him in my arms he is so ok you can take a look and they're saying give me your child and that's when they took away no paper not so ever they've been providing and they just walked out of the door was any reason given behind the nine eleven call from the hospital after you took your

own child to another hospital for a second opinion i mean have they given you any reason whatsoever. they say that his and them urgency that he's almost dying then needs medical treatment and that he needs that needs to get back to the hospital immediately. or do you believe this. no he was fine he was laughing he was eating he was a normal child normal baby to go home and he was released from the from the other hospital that we took him to the doctor released to be did a statement said the parents are basically good to go home with their baby in the b.b.c. from their arms. very interesting now taking a step back facebook and social networks they are a way for you to get support and you said facebook shut down the page that you set

up for your case did they give you any reason why they closed down this page no i think it has everything to do with the government we got a lot of support we got a lot of prayers a lot of people who were there you know just praying for us and all all sat in the first facebook page a blog called facebook basically my sister in law called facebook no answer every question as she was asking them was no answer coming back we open a second facebook page for support same thing happened again your child hasn't been a lot of home in four days what's going through your minds it kills me i don't have my baby of me at nighttime i just visiting him like been visiting him three times today for an hour and you're leaving at seven o'clock of again the hard going home your baby's not there if you you're just feeling empty there's missing something in your and we're just waiting for tomorrow to stay just to you know like coming in this court hearing good news taking your baby going home or going to

a different hospital well russia's child roads on booze mrs hughes across a case she says will provide support to the parents we talked to the lawyer in the u.s. who believes the government those go to head start of the new family. they were provided with medical evidence that said the baby was fine to be taken home and despite this they decided to. manufacture an excuse to take this baby away i think what it comes down to is the parents didn't. appreciate the opinions of the doctor in the hospital and in my opinion what they did was that upset the initial physician and he decided to make a call to child protective services and say that there is a child who has an imminent danger of death what he didn't know at the time was that they'd gone to a second hospital in a different doctor said no it's not an issue history says that c.p.s. will win this case at the initial spot. judge judges will tend to err on the side

of caution i am hopeful that when all of the evidence is put forth and the facts are shown it will be very clear that these are wonderful parents who have taken every measure to care for their son have done everything appropriately and have done nothing more than just like one particular doctor and wanted to have their son cared by someone who they had faith and confidence in. how u.s. intelligence has been showering the president with millions of dollars lot of. money. washington will explain why also to the fifteen thousand state. there's a couple of stories just ahead. for

the. science technology innovation all the developments from around russia. the future.

international airport in the very heart of moscow. twenty past ten here in moscow now thanks for being with us this is our tape millions of dollars parked in suitcases and plastic shopping bags that's what it's claimed the afghan president's been receiving for a decade from the united states is known as ghost or secret money used to buy influence for the cia indeed have been karzai himself confirms that his office has been receiving money from u.s. intelligence because of the small amount it's about this with and he will come painted richard becker from the answer coalition either it should so yes he's not annoyed receiving it but he has contested the amount just basically mean that he thinks it's all above board haven't. you know it's it's really amazing when you look at the cia operations in afghanistan really began not in two thousand and one

but in one thousand nine hundred nine and one nine hundred eighty s. the cia largest operation and its entire history was carried out in afghanistan and the billions and billions of dollars that have flowed and yet today in two thousand and thirteen afghanistan ranked exactly last in the world ranking of infant mortality in astounding one hundred twenty two deaths per one hundred thousand live births so it really indicates what about the corrupting influence that the cia interventionists head over all of these years and continues to have today and it's while it has done nothing for the people of afghanistan except for a very tiny sliver of the population that lives extremely well at the top of the vast majority live in poverty and the concern is where this money's been going up it's not new news this is big no agreement for years it is going to maybe the taliban also people the links with drugs and drug trading. well you've got

a new york times story this morning there's an american official who requested anonymity who says the number one cause of corruption in afghanistan is american money so you know there's no doubt about the fact that this is happening and it there's no doubt about the high level of corruption and there's really no doubt that the war in afghanistan has not succeeded for the united states has not had a victory for the united states and its allies but it continues to be a defeat for the great majority of people in afghanistan don't see who all this money that's being spent these these. backhanders want to buy the would this being spent isn't having any effect was america still doing it. well i think that they're trying to the wire the white house and the pentagon are trying very hard to retain their strategic domination in afghanistan they see afghanistan as strategically key

they want to bring down the number of troops but they want to find a way to have afghans do the fighting against the forces that have resisted the occupation there and so they've poured this money and they have tried to buy military commanders local governors and military commanders of all different kinds and you can see that this is this is not succeeding this isn't and this is the way of occupation all hours of the general afghan public think about this the general left afghan public that aren't on the receiving end of some of this money well i think that there's great anger about this and the fact that as i mentioned before even some were telling the statistics in the country virtually every other indices of power is among the worst in the entire world despite the fact that really what will end up to be over a trillion dollars will be spent by the united states on the war and the people who are left in this condition so others i'm sure very great anger and complete

distrust of the government and richard the flipside to this also what the afghan people think about it what about the american people what they think about it people struggling for their jobs people what kind of food to some kind of food to feed their kids or to pick cetera because of the financial problems they are in all this money is still being spent not really coming to any great good. well. in fact the only various sums of money the real us military budget this year overall view over a trillion dollars and yet we have today in the united states virtually here nearly forty percent of the population according to the government itself is now in the living in poverty or as low income and the interest of the people have been sacrificed and the altar of militarism which is back of a coalition thanks for your thoughts tonight thank you. china's clout in east asia rapidly grows japan is looking to warm its ties now with russia as a counterbalance the country's leaders are meeting in moscow with big deals on the

table to try to fill that energy gap that was left in japan after the fukushima nuclear disaster can also be watching the meeting. one of the biggest outcomes of this meeting is that both russia's president and the japanese prime minister said that they're very keen on speeding up the signing of the peace treaty in fact prime minister abbott said it's quite unusual that it still hasn't been signed even though almost seventy years of basque since the end of the second world war and mainly it's because of the ongoing territorial dispute around the south cool islands and sure the relationship between russia and japan is quite complicated but it will look at talk u.s. relations with other regional players that is often just as complicated if not more especially when comes to. which china there's an even bigger territorial dispute which is almost reached the stage of full scale military confrontation then there is japan's if you did you go as with the u.s. which includes washington's growing military presence in the region including

troops bases joint drills and so on and all of that is definitely not helping improve ties with china which is russia's strategic partner and basically for the past a few decades it was japan and the u.s. on one side and china and russia on the other side but times are changing and global financial centers are now shifting towards asia and many analysts are saying that talk you mean i'll be looking to change its foreign policy to improve relations in the neighborhood including you can russia which would only be greeted by applause by the japanese public where many people have really grown tired of having all these problems stacking up throughout the years and also after the fukushima disaster to shut down most of its nuclear reactors and it's truly a very hungry to russia's president vladimir putin's russia is really to satisfy your. a couple of those world news headlines in brief amount of progress confirmed that the blast that rocked the city center earlier today was a gas explosion thirty five people including several foreigners rigid in the

incident but no deaths were reported police sealed off the popular tourist area where it happened and evacuated over two hundred people from nearby buildings fearing further gas leaks a place to be granted fifteen days to question the owner of the tower block in bangladesh that collapsed and killed at least three hundred eighty one people meantime thousands of garment workers rallied to demand the death penalty for the owner and voicing concern of the fury of a poor safety conditions in the country's close factories species rubber bullets and tear gas to bring the unrest in the control of the demonstrators torched several vehicles including an ambulance. fifteen thousand jobs have been struck off in greece with the mass public sector layoffs starting immediately the protest vigil was held outside parliament as lawmakers signed away the jobs together with an extension on taxes it's all part of the effort to push through e.u. and i.m.f. mandate it was stellar in return for bailout cash for the euro zone the tide turning though on the austerity architects germany it seems french president francois are all arms parties sparked

a diplomatic gaffe by describing german chancellor angela merkel is selfish in a draft document on european policy party officials will soften the tone but investment advisor patrick young told me it highlights a growing rift between the euro zone's two big hitters. after the show is tearing apart the fundamental fabric of the european union at the moment or not is between the northern european nations led by germany who are seen to be fiscally signed and pragmatic and sensible of by their economies and they need help to restore the content and to come closer to the mediterranean and their lead effectively by problem solving problems likes to think that it's still a first world economy but the difficulty is their numbers really aren't comes out looking back charlie than some of the village economies of the mediterranean such as say if lilian or french or lebanon a situation where they're desperate to do anything and basically move us back to the one six or seven days level of the last decade they want to turn that libya

going by spending a lot of money that france doesn't help and they're hoping germany is going to give them and mrs merkel says no. patrick. washington is diligently weaving some more web regulation online because lots to say about that if the government gets its way internet providers could be threatened with severe and compounding fines if they did refuse calls to wiretap their clients or check it out t. dot com is the place to do so please also taking this sort she spirit into space for the story about russian cosmonauts traveling to stage a war with the olympic torch on the international space station nice for the p.r.c. great pictures to come. i. think.

it's supposed time here we were moscow if you're watching us thanks for being with r.t. katie pilbeam see you start another working week for you of course and has this team furiously working hard today you know what a big stories of course that meeting the japanese high profile meeting over here in moscow trying to forge better ties also big energy talks on the cards but of course there's a lot of energy needed in japan after fukushima has been a huge problem in the yeah exactly huge problem i think that's what the center is really about the energy deals and the multibillion dollar ones that that kevin also got some big companies here as well got the big she one hundred fifty businessmen in total hey thrash out some details this is exciting stuff it's a big day for business so i'll give you details after the break.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images coke world has been seeing from the streets of canada. for a shelter all day. and

you're watching business here and i'll say this even here moscow welcome. russia and japan are making a one billion dollar history deal it is the first time a japanese prime minister has visited russia in ten years and already a one billion dollars investment fund has been planned and this figure could increase by ten times over the next three years to powerhouse economies have agreed to work together to invest in infrastructure medicine technology and alternative energy sources the japanese economy the third largest in the world is based on advanced technology and that is exactly what russia wants to improve with the struggling with the financial crisis russia's focus on asia is stronger than ever the head of russia's direct investment fund explains. but she was. russia's

far east is developing actually now and that's the reason russia is now looking more eastwards we're witnessing a growth slowdown in europe under the country's that's why we welcome cooperation with the asia pacific it's extremely important for russia and all the countries in the region. for the new ones in the markets and the u.s. stocks are climbing with the standard and poor's heading for its sick straight month of gains as pending home sales climbed to his in the central banks will maintain stimulus plan so for the dow jones seven tenth's of a sense pretty much the same for the nasdaq as well so firmly in full detail the european stocks gave the form the new government was in group central banks that will decide to maintain economic stimulus in their meetings this way we will such as an asian gaming as well really kicking off this monday on a high energy market did particularly well and consumer companies also revealed

some impressive results who we've got with around three quarters of around of a percent for the footsie that in london started the week off after the choir actually back on a good first thing you can say. and staying with the british government has come up with a sneaky way to get protestors off their backs bribe them with cheaper energy bills but it just shows how keen the government is to push only show gas projects with the much larger than previously thought u.k. is hoping to copy the u.s. example which is to transform the u.s. energy market triggering a production prove that pushed gas prices to ten year lows last year while the protesters are concerned that the process can pollute groundwater and cause emissions of methane a potent greenhouse gas but energy prices constantly rising in britain a cheaper gas bill destructive on. may be impossible to tell you down. let's get

into the russian market is that the day ended the day makes as you can see just four tenths up for the r.t.s. but down in negative territory for the my sex not the biggest move ahead today in russia was russia's second biggest lender they've reportedly secured firm commitments from the resolver own wealth fund investors for its secondary public offering for three point three billion dollars which a bank intends to invest in expanding that domestic market as a result of the. almost four percent on that news this is how the ruble got old then and that continues to strengthen as you can see so the dollar down and the common currency down against the russian current say and really supported by continued gains in commodity prices the ruble as we know tends to trade in line with crude oil prices and russia is a major producer of the commodity of course. and staying with the russian markets

is trading floors here russia welcomed a new product today an exchange traded fund is now available which means russia now joins a two trillion dollar market all these products and takes a step closer to becoming an international financial center. explains. the most cool stock exchange is launching the so-called yes which of the instruments listed on the exchange that track a benchmark index for the price of a given commodity traders can buy and sell them just like they would with shares institutional and individual investors can have e.t.a.'s and therefore full use it's a mixed income instrument that's transparent and relatively inexpensive to trade now while this investment is coming in we sing we were in the last one. so it's not surprising that it's being launched in stages and the first thing that will be

offered is barclays tradeable bonds index to satisfy investors growing interest in the countries who are the ones i had a chance to speak with simon the c.e.o. fed ex capital management the company behind e.t.f. he explained what sets this part of being expanding quite rapidly in the u.s. and in europe and the reason they've grown so much is because they're very easy to buy and so they have a lot of transparency they're very very low fees so investors can really see what they get in they can analyze them. and you can just buy and sell them like a normal share so it's very easy to to be able to get you know now an e.t.f. you've worked in the financial industry for decades do you think moscow has a realistic chance of becoming a global financial center i think it's going to be a shift in a lot of the global centers. for europe for instance the putting

a lot of onerous regulations on buying all the vesper lynd vest this. thing for. bankers bonuses we've seen we've in europe and having capital my capital asset management compensation there's a good opportunity right now for russia to start. changing a name for a scene you know the international financial markets. also the business now i'll be back in the us in two hours with that update in the meantime though stay with i'll see as we have from dr vashti's khalidi all thought of how the u.s. has undermined peace having a status with em. syria

and those red lines filled with allegations damascus has used some kind of chemical weapons q.s. nato and the gulf countries may up the ante to break the deadlock in this conflict if that comes to pass one of the possible outcomes. to news a secret laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new more sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a dollar amount anything tunes mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and world events this is why you should care only on the dot com

wealthy british style. pastimes. markets why now founded. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons are for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on our.

recovered international airport in the very heart of moscow. he is an author and professor at columbia university and his new book is called brokers of deceit how the u.s. has undermined peace in the middle east joining our team now for an exclusive one on one interview is dr rashid khalidi thank you very much for taking the time stick with me it's a pleasure now you argue that over thirty plus years the u.s. has used language to undermine the peace process and you say even the phrase peace process when spoken by u.s. administrations has been extremely disingenuous why so well the term peace process itself is an example of what i'm talking about orwellian language and saying things that are fundamentally not true united states brokered peace treaty between egypt

and israel to a number of years but they got it they got a result president carter started working on palestinian autonomy so-called another word that's used in my view in a disingenuous way in one nine hundred seventy eight thirty five years ago so united states has been engaged in a process there's no question for three and a half decades it hasn't produced peace and i earlier in this book that in fact if you look structurally at what they were trying to attempt they couldn't achieve peace what they were trying to do in essence was to do something that was under a ceiling of what israel would allow and now that did not amount to anything that the palestinians could ever accept a didn't really into real statehood or real self-determination so it was a process which was described as a peace process but it really wasn't it couldn't have led to a resolution of this conflict what does the u.s. gain from undermining peace in the middle east many would argue that it's in the u.s. interests to create peace in the east there are two state solution well it's clear

that achieving peace between major countries like egypt and israel for example was in the u.s. interest it was in u.s. interest because the. clash between egypt and israel had the potential back in the days of the cold war of a superpower conflict in one seventy three for example fortunately on the palestine issue there is no weight of opinion no body of powerful interests that say you have got to resolve this because it will be harmful in this and that way to the united states if you don't there was briefly during the occupation of iraq when you had a number of leading strategic figures the van secretary of defense secretary gates the then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mullen and general petraeus when he was commander in iraq all of whom said america's bias on this issue america's failure to resolve this harms it in the arab world but you don't hear that forcefully argued in washington what you do hear forcefully argued is people who say no no you mustn't push beyond certain israeli red lines and these people have tended to prevail in the past here is simply saying that the u.s.

right now is acting as so-called lawyer for for israel they're not as as mediator as their broker is between israel and palestine. in the book i talk about numerous cases where this is exactly what happened and i end up using the term that was in fact not even i didn't even coined the term israel's lawyer it was an american diplomat who's been engaged for decades in this aaron david miller and he himself was quoting sector state kissinger so i think it's an apt term in fact united states has not been an honest broker when i was an advisor to the palestinian negotiators from ninety one to ninety three we saw multiple instances of the united states supposedly mediating but in fact being even less forthcoming than were the israelis themselves and so you know clearly the united states has not been an honest broker or fair mediator in fact it has tended to be even less even less willing to take certain daring moves than where the israelis at certain points now in the past alice stance have had

a certain level of confidence in certain us presidents right you argue that right now the palestinians carry disappointment in the u.s. president barack obama. well. a number of us presidents including president obama at early stages in their presidency have tried to push beyond the arm biloba of what is accepted in terms of what the israelis will let you get away with basically what the lobby will accept what israeli prime ministers will fight you over say obama has tried i would argue the president carter tried president reagan tried president bush sr tried president clinton tried and president obama tried but in each case they have been they've been they've been rebuffed and they haven't pursued pursued persisted in what they were trying to do so i think we've now reached a point where the. interim supposin solution is palestinian authority which was established back in the mid ninety's has been there for almost twenty years and there has been no resolution of the conflict and palestinians of i think lost confidence not just in this president but in the united states says that mean of

the prospects of an israeli palestinian resolution under obama. will not happen will it be eight years wasted when he leaves the white house do you think that what we're four years and counting have been wasted so far i think that is and i says doesn't change its policy you know it's will not only not help to resolve this conflict it will continue to do what it's done for most of these past thirty five years it will make it worse and it's not just a neutral actor now it's it is is supporting israel diplomatically. gives israel three billion dollars a year in military assistance much of it much of which seems to me to be used whether in violation of u.s. law in ways that are not defensive bombing gaza for example and finally it's american money from five zero one c three tax deductible charitable organizations that is funneled by the hundreds of millions of dollars to the settlement enterprise in the west bank this is active american participation in making a settlement less likely so you know it's has not only not helped to resolve this i

would argue it's made it is made the situation where the u.s. also does give support and financial aid to palestine as well correct to the passing authority alison that are most of which goes to sick. forces which under the agreements that were signed back in the mid ninety's do much more to provide security for israel and in the is illegal israeli settlers than they do for secure provide security for palestinians in the occupied arts they don't protect the palestinians when israelis carry out an incursion or are not down doors in the middle of the night what they do is try and stop palestinians from resisting or attacking israelis who are illegally settling in the occupied territories or otherwise present israeli military forces why do so that's what usa does in other words going to the palestinians most of it see you argued that u.s. administrations have used corrupt language to manipulate the israeli palestinian track but is that the hallmarks for the us foreign policy for that entire region or is it just exclusive to the israel palestine issue well i mean i think

this kind of language is not exclusive to this conflict or to the united states i think. i was thinking that through without what i was reading i get it i get i can think of many many instances i think that the arab israeli conflict and especially the palestinian israeli component of it which is the core is particularly susceptible to mis making and to language which is really fundamentally false i mean israel is a democratic and a jewish state where there are all kinds of rights that are denied to non jews so how much can it be democratic but we say it's a democratic state to be are we are with other countries for i understand that but those those critiques i think if you if you say x x country or y. countries democratic supposedly we should examine that in this case it tends to be passed over similarly people talk about security israeli security well israeli security is a term that's very very broad it's used it is it's used to cover things that involve inflicting insecurity on other people is that you know these are the kinds

of uses of language that i argue in this conflict are particularly prevalent and are particularly dishonest now i'm sure that you can find many of those in other conflicts. do you believe the palestinians the palestinians are generally interested in breaking the status quo or do you think that they have learned to live with the circumstance as it is now and breaking the sabbath may be too uncomfortable no i think that most past it the person suffered more than anybody else in this conflict there's no question and so they would in their overwhelming majorities love to see this conflict solved now that said unfortunately there are some palestinians who profit from the status quo associated with the regimes in ramallah and gaza and those are people who may be comfortable in some ways with the status quo but they're a very small minority so i would i would say that you can you just need to go there to the occupied territories and see how much people are suffering and how angry they are at the status quo last year received an elevated status at the united negro complete that that helped the palestinian or has helped the palestinian

authority in any way in that's ongoing negotiations for for a peace deal unfortunately it hasn't i think it might have but the way in which it's been employed has unfortunately not in any way maximize the opportunities that were opened to the palestinians and the palestinians could have pushed aggressively in variety of un forums like the international criminal court or unesco or elsewhere to try and stop violations that in this negotiating process have been ignored for decades these things should be brought to somebody that can do something about them and this admission this elevation of the status of palestine should have made that possible it has not because the past a majority hasn't done it they haven't done it for seriously so why haven't they done well for reasons that must have to do with their own internal calculations they are dependent on american support and therefore they don't want to alienate the americans they're dependent to some extent on israeli i don't know what you want to call it the israelis not stepping all over them and so they're afraid to

antagonize the israelis or or they are presumably willing to go along with this charade that's been going on for decades now of a so-called peace process in my view those are mistakes. how has the so-called arab spring affected this this negotiation this peace process do you think it's had any effect on it do you think it's delayed the peace process do you think it's had the major powers including the u.s. slowdown when it comes to israel and palestine negotiations happening there rethink any kind of negotiations or tentative agreement what kind of effect has the arab spring i think it has not that much of an effect though i think that the situation of the arab world and the unwillingness of the mostly undemocratic governments throughout the arab world has measurably increased the complicated put it differently has made this problem harder to resolve because the arab governments

have really not put their money where their mouth is and they have not really forcefully acted. in terms of the palestine question the way that they say that there are many terms of their infertility many well egypt or other look at the situation internally in egypt i mean given those kind of complications you can sort of understand why the egyptians get very much attention to this and what i would say is this if the arab countries were seriously addressed as as they claim to be you would have heard a lot more about the arab peace initiative in the many many many years since it was unnerves or when saudi arabia or when quit or when a major arab country that has significant financial resources wants to make a point about something it has the means to do that they haven't i would argue though that the arab spring has the potential to change the democratic regimes when and if they can be established will have to answer to their own people and their public opinion feels very strongly about this issue you want to the first to make it to present these arguments that you're now presenting in your book and you probably will not be fortunately what do you hope that readers get from your book

well i would hope american readers would get an understanding of the fact that they're being lied to by the politicians and to some extent by the mainstream american media there is not a peace process and united states is not a force for good in this conflict. it is made the situation considerably worse over the past three and a half decades when we went to madrid in october one thousand nine hundred one there were two hundred thousand israeli settlers in the occupied west bank in occupied arab east jerusalem there are almost six hundred thousand now that's a result of events that were things developments that were allowed to take place while supposedly a peace process order go was and was underway i would argue that those those developments have made a two state solution impossible as somebody has to be held accountable for this and it has to be found we have yet another administration trying to follow the same approach basically that president carter negotiated back in seventy eight at camp david autonomy and piecemeal step by step confidence building all this should be thrown out the window this has to be negotiate on the basis of international law on

the basis of clear principles and say we want to get to this and we have to do it in this way not in any way the way in which it's been pursued up till now but if the u.s. remains the main broker cannot happen do you think that this the negotiations with the better off if the u.s. was removed from the research is not going to be removed because the united states is the sole superpower the united states is the nine hundred pound gorilla on the block in the going anywhere however the addition of any other party almost any country on the face of the earth with the exception of a few south pacific islands vote for the united states no matter what with all due respect anybody would be a better mediator than the united states almost literally anybody because united states has shown such a degree of bias and is so closely connected to the israeli position on so many issues here is a message i would have been in the book for others i mean is this not

a vital interest for europeans for russia for india for china they get their energy from the middle east this is a vital interest for them america doesn't get its energy from middle east and it's going to be energy efficient like russia very soon but the countries that get their energy from the middle east have a vital interest. and doing something about this and they have just but they've done very very little i think they have to push a lot harder for a little more fairness a little more even handedness in mediating this conflict dr rashid khalidi thank you very much for your time it was a pleasure thank you. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

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tonight a russian passenger jet carrying over one hundred sixty people is involved in a midair incident over syria allegedly escaping rocket fire. while in damascus itself serious problems to survive on a par apparent assassination attack as a car bomb explodes near a school in kindergarten killing ten people. speculation emerges that one of the

boston bombing suspects could be trained in georgia as the country's prime minister admits there may have been militant camps on this soil. and the russian couple desperate for the return of their baby son after he seized the u.s. social services to talk to us about their family battle that's ongoing.